Victims of the Riches by Kal Toure

I have never been to any kind of Film Festival so when it was time to attend the Pan African Film Festival I did not know what was coming. Getting ready at home, sick with the flu, I was thinking of different scenarios and imagining what the theater would look like. I pictured paparazzi following celebrities to the movies and lots of mingling, well just very crowded. I arrived at the Magic Johnson Theatre and was welcomed by nothing but a regular movie theatre, I let out a sigh of relief because I was not in the mood of anything hectic. This also shows the humble atmosphere of the future movie generation. Walking to buy the tickets and looking around I started noticing that even though it looks like a regular theatre one could tell that it was more than that. People walking around trying to see what new film is out and what it is about, others asking people to grade the movie they had just watched, people standing in line for the doors to open for their movie. I liked the fact that it was not only African American people at the theatre, or older people but what I saw was a mix of people and ages. It was a joyful feeling in the air, this was going to be good.
The first movie I chose to see was Victims of the Riches by Kal Toure. This is a short documentary of 58 minutes. The Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl was also shown before it but I want to focus on Victims of the Riches because it blew my mind away. This documentary started off very strong, French words and a "thank you" speech. At once the audience knew that they were in for something very different. During the 58 minutes that I watched this documentary I was struck with several stories by young people from Mali and their experiences when they tried to escape to, mostly, Morocco. Their stories brought sorrow and ache to the hearts of the audience. Many of the stories were told by men and women that had no prospect in their own land and wanted to start a better life in Europe. These men and women spend months on foot walking from land to land. The experiences they had to go through were out of this world, I did not know people could have such cruel hearts but one must admire the stamina these young people had when trying to reach the borders of Morocco. Images are very graphic and someone that does not have a strong stomach should stay away from this movie but I must say that if one has the chance to see it then take that chance because it is educational and amazing stories are told. The director worked in a way where, as we English Majors would say, foreshadowing was key. The first scene took place at night with a prayer and a thank you speech in French and it was always of the same man looking in to the camera. Every time this scene was shown the audience knew that they were going to hear another story from someone new. After each story the fence was shown with people trying to jump over to get to Morocco. Between stories people were interviewed, mostly farmers that also told their stories but also telling the audience about the flaws of their government. One man said that “[Poverty] is not a general curse, I. e racial”. I thought that it was a comment that really hit home. Poverty sees no color but anyone can fall in the dark pits of poverty and a whole race is not cursed by it.
This documentary will definitely open people’s eyes and hopefully it will not be forgotten but fully exposed. Our society needs a wake up call and this movie will definitely be a major alarm clock that wakes us up from our beauty sleep.
One major theme that the young people spoke of was their parents and family value. It shows a great difference from the western world where the fight to find fortune for oneself and the only time parents are thought of is when it is time to put them in some elderly home. This documentary teaches about the lack of opportunities to live a wealthy life (according to western standards), family values, cruelty of the human heart but also the courage of others and determination to teach people of what is going on in the world.
The documentary ends in a very graphic way and which is very smart it for when you walk out the images are forever imprinted in your brain. The audience can finally see why the director chose to show the night scene with the man looking in to the camera.
The stories will never be forgotten and the documentary makes a strong statement. Their fight to live a life that they strive for will never rest, even if some people have chosen to accept their lives the future generation will take over what their ancestor started.